Friday, February 19, 2010

Yesterday I started the first of several knitting lessons I'll be giving over the next six weeks. Take a moment to read this before reading on. (I'll wait. I'll even hum a little music for you. lol) ;-)

Well, let me begin by saying I made it through...and I think we are heading in the right direction. I've ended up with three students in addition to my oldest. The first lesson, which included her and her friend, didn't go as planned. But I somewhat expected that. That's why I'm thankful I'm flexible. (smile) The little girl immediately started pulling, very randomly, at her skein of yarn before I could stop her. So, after I showed them different sized needles, different types of yarn, she (and her mother--mainly) spent the rest of our time untangling her yarn. I had my daughter roll her skein into a ball and let this experience be the lesson for today! We will learn on cast-on at our lesson next week.

The lesson I gave to the High Schooler went a bit more smoothly. He was able to pick it up so that at the end of our hour and half session he'd learned to cast-on and the knit stitch. He was so proud of himself. He quietly asked me if my husband knew how to knit. When I said no, he said, "Good. I'll know something he doesn't know." [A little background: my husband has taken this student 'under his wing' for the past two years. He admires my dh greatly!]

While instructing the High Schooler, I got another student. One of the teacher asked if she could send her daughter over and I agreed. Now this little princess (middle-school age I'm guessing) was a knitter in a former life. She picked it up in about ten minutes. I was blown away. Now, she definitely has to practice it and learn about tension, but she can knit.

I gave them both the homework of practicing the knit stitch. They each are going to be making a scarf. Depending upon how much progress they've made and how things are looking we may move to the purl stitch. I'll play that one by ear.

So, as you can see, things went really well for my first of many knitting lessons. Perhaps after these sessions (and a few more) I'll offer my skills at a local Michael's. We'll see. Just thankful for some more possibilities!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

I did knit quite a bit over the weekend! I made 2 hats, and finished a scarf in seed stitch. I was amazed at how much I could get done when someone else is doing all the cooking and cleaning! I took pictures and I will send/post them soon.

As you know, this weekend we (my husband of 15 years) and I had the privilege to attend a marriage retreat. Even though we have attended one before, somehow, this time, I did not know what to expect. My Love and I have been living apart during the week for nearly 3 years now (he is home every weekend, and naturally, during that time there has been the week here or there, that he is either here, or I am there! LOL). So, going in to the weekend, I was tired. Emotionally and physically. And marriagely (yeah, I just made that word up).

Ephesians 5: 21, 22 "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery..."

A great mystery indeed.

The time at the marriage retreat was so refreshing for me. I encourage every husband and wife to MAKE the time to go (and I am willing to come babysit when you do!) We attended the one in South Atlantic Conference. It is always wonderful. There were 189 other Africian-American couples there, married from 6 months to 50+ years. The love, sharing, encouragment---having other couples surround us and pray for us, our marriage--it all touched me so deeply.

I have struggled, at times, to see God's design for marriage from the beginning. I know His plan was perfect. Some days I wonder what happened! But, it was good to be reminded at the retreat how difficult these years can be at times, years 4-25 or so. So much of life happens---career building, childbearing and rearing, running to everything, and that couple time is often put on eternal hold. After all, these things are important, right? Well, I am learning I have to make, well, demand time for just US---and I see my Love doing likewise. We must tell other things no, so that we can have time for just the two of us.

So, in our away time together this weekend, he helped me roll my yarn into balls---and I, in turn, helped him with his balls. (Yeah, OOC, huh?) We laughed, we talked, we shared---some things we seldom get to do in our real world time, because there is always some child, dog, or church situation requiring our attention.

Most importantly, I had time to humbly thank the Lord for giving me the gift of my husband. And I reflected on God's plan for our marriage, and how He is continually weaving the two of us into one.

Monday, February 15, 2010

As you know, the Olympics started on Friday and with that the race for gold! I was reading on Alex's blog about the Sewing Olympics. I thought is was a cool idea. I've been reading about different Knitting Olympic Challenges as well on a couple other blogs. The idea is to create/complete a project during the two weeks of the Olympic Games.

I can't say that I'm participating, but then again, it might be nice to try something. If I do, I'm leaning towards the Sewing [crafting] Olympic Challenge as there is plenty for me to choose from with regards to completing projects around here. It's left up to me what my "events" will be. (Now that I'm thinking about it, I should have started a "Clean-up-your-house" Olympic Challenge, as that's really what I need to be doing here!)

I simply wanted to share this with you. Perhaps you'll want to participate or make plans to do this for the next Olympics (I hear this is a regular thing).

Sunday, February 7, 2010

We got a lot of snow over the weekend. Like 12-18 inches! WHOO HOO! The kids have had a blast playing in it and I've had fun watching them. It's kept us in--which I'm so not mad about! ;-)

It's also given me some time to think and rethink about the things/projects I want to tackle this year. In January, I took the time to write about all of those things. You can read about it here. But yesterday, as I sipped on hot chai and watched the kids from the window, I decided that I'm going to give myself a clean slate. In looking over all the projects I've started, I have to be honest and tell you that I really don't want to complete most of them. I'm still loving the yarn I've chose, but not so much that project. And that's ok.

I took additional time to look through some of the knitting books I currently own--even took a moment to browse through the Ravelry site for more ideas. With that, I'm thinking I'll be "frogging" most of this unfinished work and reworking it into something else.

I'm excited!!

What things are you working on? Have you complete those baby gifts? I'm currently working on a soft gray scarf and another lap quilt. I'll share some photos soon.